Disc changer for a disc player

ABSTRACT

A disc storage stores a plurality of discs. A pair of driving rollers are provided for carrying a disc inserted from an opening to the disc storage. Each of the driving rollers is provided to be moved between a disc carrying position and a retracted position by a moving device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for reproducing an opticaldisc selected from a plurality of discs stored in a disc storage, andmore particularly to a disc reproducing device mounted on a motorvehicle.

In recent years, a disc reproducing device in which a disc can bechanged through an opening for inserting a disc to be reproduced hasbeen proposed.

FIG. 20 shows a disc reproducing device, which was filed by theapplicant and disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open10-21628.

In the figure, the reference numeral 500 represents a driving roller,501 is a disc storing section, 502 is a tray, 503, 504 are disc pullingout arms, 505, 506 are coil springs, and 507 is a disc discharging arm.

The driving roller 500 is driven by a motor (not shown) to carry a discinserted passing through an opening to the disc storing section 501. Inthe disc storing section 501, a plurality of trays, each holding a disc,are arranged. A desired tray is located to a position corresponding tothe driving roller 500 for changing the disc. There is provided a disccarrying device (not shown) between the disc storing section 501 and adisc reproducing section (not shown).

The disc pulling out arm 503 is rotatable about a shaft 503 a and has acontact portion 503 b to be contacted with a periphery of disc D, andurged in the clockwise direction by the spring 505. Similarly, the discpulling out arm 504 is rotatable about a shaft 504 a, has a contactportion 504 b, and urged in the counterclockwise direction by the spring506. The disc discharging arm 507 is located so as to be contacted withthe disc.

Before the inserting of the disc, the arms 503 and 504 are located inpositions A. When the disc is taken in by the driving roller 500, arms503 and 504 are rotated to positions B. However, the arms 503 and 504push the disc, thereby removing the disc from the driving roller 500 andinserting the disc in the tray 502. When discharging the disc, thedischarging arm 507 is rotated to the position A to push the disc to thedriving roller 500.

In the conventional device, arms 503, 504 and 507 must be provided inorder to carry the disc. Therefore, the device is complicated inconstruction, which results in high manufacturing cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a disc reproducingdevice which is simple in construction and has high reliability.

According to the present invention, there is provided a disc changercomprising, a disc storage in which a plurality of discs are stored inan arranged condition, a disc carrier having a pair of driving rollersfor carrying a disc inserted from an opening to the disc storage, movingmeans for moving each of the driving rollers between a disc carryingposition and a retracted position.

The driving rollers at the disc carrying position are provided to beengaged with discs in the disc storage, and to be parallel with theopening when positioned at the disc carrying position, and to beunparallel at the retracted position.

Each of the driving rollers is pivotally mounted on a supporting plateat a position adjacent the opening.

The disc storage has a plurality of trays arranged in a disc arrangingdirection, and is provided to be moved in the disc arranging direction,and further comprises a tray moving means for moving the trays in thedisc arranging direction, the tray moving means is provided forpositioning a desired disc at a height approximately equal to the heightof the driving rollers.

The tray has a disc supporting plate, a pair of notches are formed inthe disc supporting plate, the driving rollers are provided to beinserted in the notches at the disc carrying position.

A separating device is provided for separating adjacent trays from adesired tray.

These and other objects and features of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description withreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a disc changer according to the presentinvention;

FIGS. 2a, 2 b and 3 are plan views of a part of the disc changer;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a tray stack;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the disc changer;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a driving roller;

FIG. 7a is a plan view showing a disc player;

FIG. 7b is a plan view showing a clamper;

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a turntable;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the operation of the disc player;

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a chassis;

FIG. 11 is a side view showing a slide plate;

FIG. 12 is a side view showing a disc separating member;

FIGS. 13 to 19 are side views showing the operation of the disc changer;and

FIG. 20 is a schematic plan view of a conventional disc changer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 a and 2 b showing the disc changer according tothe present invention, main composition of the device comprises a disccarrier 100 having a pair of driving rollers 101, a disc player 200having a turntable 201, clamper 202, pickup 203, a disc storage 300having six trays 301 (FIG. 2) for arranging discs in the Z-direction anda tray moving mechanism having a movable plate 400 for moving the tray301. These portions are provided in a chassis 1.

The disc carrier 100 is provided for carrying a disc inserted from anopening by a user to the disc storage 300, and for discharging the discin the storage 300.

The driving rollers 101 are provided to contact with the underside ofthe inserted disc and to carry it in the X-direction.

Referring to FIG. 3, the tray 301 has a disc supporting plate 301 ahaving a V-shaped notch 301 b and a pair of notches 301 c. In the notch301 b, the turntable 201, clamper 202 and pickup 203 are inserted.Furthermore, the tray 301 has a pair of holes 301 d in which guideshafts 2 are inserted, a pair of disc holding members 301 e, fourprojections 301 f.

As shown in FIG. 4, the shaft 2 is inserted in the holes 301 d of sixtrays 301 and a hole of a regulating plate 302 on the stack of trays,thereby arranging the trays in the Z-direction. The regulating plate 302is urged by springs 303 provided inside wall of the chassis 1 so thatregulating plate 302 is prevented from upwardly moving. The regulatingplate 302 has a vertical member 302 a to hold the trays, therebypreventing the trays from moving in the Y-direction.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 showing the disc carrier 100, a worm wheel101 a is formed on a side of each driving roller 101. The driving roller101 is rotatably mounted on an upright plate 103 a of a supporting plate103. A disc path regulating plate 106 is provided above the drivingroller 101 and rotatably supported by a shaft 103 b. Between the plate106 and the driving roller 101, a disc carrying path 102 is formed. Acoil spring 107 is provided between the regulating plate 106 and thesupporting plate 103 to urge the plate 106 toward the driving roller101.

A pair of rotatable shafts 105 are rotatably mounted on shafts 104. Anupper portion of the rotatable shaft 105 is supported by the supportingplate 103 and a worm 105 c is formed on an upper most portion of therotatable shaft. The worm 105 c is engaged with the worm wheel 101 a ofthe driving roller 101. A pulley 105 a is formed on one of the rotatableshaft 105, which pulley 105 a engages with a belt 109 of a motor 108(FIG. 2); Both rotatable shafts 105 have pulley 105 b and are connectedby a belt (not shown). Thus, both the shafts 105 are rotated by themotor 108 through the belts.

Each supporting plate 103 has a downwardly projecting projection 103 c,passing through a hole formed in a movable plate 400. A movable member110 is slidably mounted on the chassis 1 and engaged with the projection103 c. Therefore, when the movable member 110 moves in the X-direction,each of the plates 103 is rotated about the shaft 104 to rotate thedriving roller 101 about the shaft 104.

Due to the above described construction, the driving rollers 101 aremoved between a disc carrying position and a retracted position. FIG. 2ashows the driving roller 101 at the disc carrying position, and FIG. 2bshows the one at the retracted position.

When the driving rollers 101 are located at the disc carrying position,the rollers are inserted in the notches 301 c as shown in FIG. 2a. Atthe positions, rollers are positioned in the Y-direction, where therollers are parallel with the roller insertion opening and located onthe disc mounted on the disc supporting plate 301 a.

The driving rollers 101 at the retracted position are positioned outsidethe notches 301 c as shown in FIG. 2b.

FIGS. 7a to 9 show the disc player 200 and the disc moving mechanism. Ona base 200 a of the disc player 200, there is provided the turntable201, pickup 203, and pickup moving mechanism 204. The base 200 a isrotatably supported by a shaft 401 on the movable plate 400. A clamperbase 205 is rotatably supported by a shaft 200 b on the base 200 a andholds the clamper 202 at an end portion. A restriction portion 205 a isformed on the clamper base 205. The clamper base 205 is urged to thebase 200 a by a spring 206 mounted on the shaft 200 b.

On the base 200 a, a clamp operation member 207 is provided. There isprovided a pair of elongated holes 207 a, an elongated hole 207 bperpendicular with the holes 207 a, and a roller 207 c. In each hole 207a, engaged is a pin 200 c projected from the base 200 a, so that themember 207 is movable in the axis direction of a shaft 200 b on the base200 a.

The movable plate 400 has an arcuated hole 402 in which a movable pin 3is inserted. The pin 3 is further engaged with the elongated hole 207 b.The pin 3 is moved in the arcuated hole 402 by a driving mechanism (notshown).

The movement of the pin 3 causes the movement of the disc player betweenthe reproduction position and the retracted position and the discclamping operation.

In FIG. 7a, the disc player 200 is at the retracted position, where therestriction portion 205 a of the clamper base 205 is mounted on theroller 207 c of the clamp operating member 207, thereby releasing theclamper 202 from the turntable 201.

When the pin 3 is moved in the direction shown by the arrow, theoperating member 207 and base 200 a are rotated about the shaft 401 inthe clockwise direction. Thus, the disc player 200 is rotated to thereproduction position shown by dot and dash lines in FIG. 9.

Immediately before the reaching of the pin to the end of the arcuatedhole 402, namely, immediately before the time when the disc playerreaches the reproduction position, the driving direction of the pin 3becomes parallel with the longitudinal direction of the elongated holes207 a of the operating member 207. Therefore, only the operating member207 is moved in the longitudinal direction with respect to the base 200a, so that the restriction portion 205 a of the base 205 removes fromthe roller 207 c. As a result, the clamper 202 is pressed against theturntable 201 by the coil spring 206.

As described above, the disc clamp operation is carried out with themovement of the disc player 200 from the retracted position to thereproduction position, and the clamping is done at the same time as thepositioning of the disc player 200 to the reproducing position. Theclamp is released when the disc player moves from the reproductionposition to the retracted position.

Referring to FIG. 10, an arm 4 is rotatably supported by a shaft 4 a atthe underside of the chassis 1. The arm is adapted to be pivoted by amotor (not shown).

As shown in FIGS. 1, 10 and 11, a pair of vertical guide plates 1 a areformed on both sides of the chassis 1, in the Z-direction. Slide plates5 and 6 are slidably attached on the guide plates 1 a. The slide plates5 and 6 have projections 5 a, 6 a at the lower ends thereof, whichprojections are pivotally connected to both ends of the arm 4.Therefore, when the arm 4 is pivoted, the slide plates are moved in theopposite directions.

As shown in FIG. 11, the slide plate 6 has a pair of holes 6 b in theX-direction, each of the holes 6 b slidably engages with a pin 1 c onthe guide plate 1 a. The slide plate has also the same holes as 6 b.Each guide plate 1 a has a vertical guide hole 1 b in which slidablyengaged is a pin 400 c provided on a vertical plate 400 b of the movableplate 400. Furthermore, the pin 400 c is slidably engaged with astepwisely inclined heaving hole 6 c formed in the slide plate 6. Theslide plate 5 has also heaving hole inclined in the reverse direction tothe hole 6 c. Thus, four pins 400 c engage with the heaving holes andare moved in the Z-direction when the slide plates 5 and 6 moves in theX-direction, which causes the movable plate 400 to vertically move.

The heaving hole has six steps which corresponds to the six trays.

FIG. 12 shows one of four tray moving members 410 which are pivotallymounted on the vertical plate 400 b at a shaft 410 a. A projection 410 bis slidably engaged with an arcuated groove 400 d formed in the verticalplate 400 b. The tray moving member 410 has an L-shaped hole 410 c inwhich a projection 301 f (FIG. 3) of the tray 301. There is formed fourcams 410 d, 410 e, 410 f and 410 g which are engaged with theprojections 301 f.

The operation of the device will be described hereinafter with referenceto FIGS. 13 through 19. FIGS. 13 through 17 show the operation formounting a disc inserted from the opening on the tray 301 of the discstorage 300. The operation is described about the mounting of theinserted disc on the second tray from the lower most tray.

FIG. 13 shows a waiting state. In the state, all trays are stacked up.The pin 400 c is mounted on the lower most step of the inclined hole 6c, and the movable plate 400 is positioned at the lower most position.The tray moving member 410 is retracted from the tray 310 so that thetray moving member does not strike the tray when the movable plate 400moves.

When the user inserts a disc in the opening, the slide member 6 is movedto the left and the slide member 5 is moved to the right by the arm 4 toraise the movable plate 400. When the pin 400 c reaches the second stepas shown in FIG. 14, the slide member 6 (the description about the slidemember will be omitted hereinafter) stops to stop the movable plate 400.At the position, the tray moving member 410 holds the second tray 301,engaging with the underside of the tray.

More particularly, the tray moving member 410 is rotated in theclockwise direction, so that the cam 410 d raises the projection 301 fof the third tray, thereby lifting the third through sixth trays.

On the other hand, the projection 301 f of the second tray mounts on thecam 410 e and enters the hole 410 c. Thus, the second tray is held bythe tray moving member 410.

Next, the slide member 6 is moved to the left to lift the movable plate400. Therefore, the third to sixth trays are raised by the cam 410 d,and the second tray is raised by the cam 410 e, leaving the first tray.

As shown in FIG. 15, when the pin 400 c reaches the upper most step, theslide member 6 stops. The second tray held by the tray moving member 410is placed at a position corresponding to the upper most tray positionbefore the lifting shown in FIG. 13. This position corresponds to theposition of the driving roller 101 of the disc carrier 100 (FIG. 5),where the insertion and discharge of the disc are performed at theheight.

As shown in FIG. 16, the tray moving member 410 is slightly rotated inthe clockwise direction, so that the third through sixth trays areraised by the cam 410 d although the second tray is not raised. Thus,there is formed a space above the second tray, in which space thedriving roller 101 can be inserted. Therefore, the driving roller 101 ismoved from the retracted position (FIG. 2b) to the disc carryingposition (FIG. 2a).

Thereafter, the driving roller 101 is driven so that the disc insertedby the user is carried. When the disc reaches the second tray, thedriving roller 101 is stopped.

Next, as shown in FIG. 17, the driving roller 101 is moved from the disccarrying position to the retracted position. At that time, the drivingroller moves while rotated in the disc feeding direction. Therefore, thedisc is not moved to the retracted position. When the driving rollerreaches to the retracted position, the disc is released from the roller,so that disc falls on a holding surface 301 a (FIG. 2b) of the secondtray.

Thereafter, the slide member 6 is moved to lower the movable plate 400.When the pin 400 c reaches the second step, the slide member 6 isstopped. Therefore, the plate 400 is positioned at the position shown inFIG. 14. Furthermore, the tray moving member 410 is rotated in thecounterclockwise direction so that cams 410 d and 410 e are releasedfrom the projections 301 f of the trays.

Next, the slide member 6 is further moved. When the pin 400 c reachesthe lower most step, the slide member is stopped. Thus, the operationfor carrying the disc to the tray finishes.

The operation for discharging disc is the same as the above describedoperation except the rotating of the driving roller 101 in the discdischarge direction.

The operation for reproducing the disc held on the tray will bedescribed hereinafter.

In the waiting state shown in FIG. 13, when the reproduction of the discheld on the second disc is instructed, the movable plate 400 is raisedso that the tray moving member 410 and the disc player 200 arepositioned at the second tray.

Next, a space for inserting the disc player 200 is formed between thesecond tray and the third tray, by the rotation of the tray movingmember 410 in the clockwise direction, which operation is the samemanner as above description as shown in FIG. 14.

Thereafter, the tray moving member 410 is further rotated in theclockwise direction, so that the third to sixth trays are moreoverraised from the position of FIG. 14. At the same time, the second trayis raised by the cam 410 f. On the other hand, the first tray is pressedby the outside of the cam 410 e, thereby prevented from moving. Thus, asshown in FIG. 18, a large space is formed under the second tray, so thatthe player 200 can be inserted. The projection 301 f of the second trayis deeply inserted in the hole 410 c to be held by the tray movingmember 410.

Next, the disc player 200 is moved from retracted position to thereproduction position in the above described spaces by the player movingmechanism as shown in FIG. 9. At that time, the clamper 202 and theturntable 201 are separated from each other as shown in FIG. 18. Whenthe player 200 is positioned at the reproduction position, the clamper202 is lowered to clamp the disc on the turntable 201. At the same time,the tray moving member 410 is slightly rotated in the counterclockwisedirection to lower the second tray. Therefore, the disc on the secondtray is clamped by the clamper and the turntable as shown in FIG. 19.

In the apparatus of the present invention, there is not provided discpulling out arms and a disc discharging arm. Therefore, the apparatus issimple in construction and can be manufactured at a low cost.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with preferredspecific embodiment thereof, it will be understood that this descriptionis intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention,which is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A disc changer comprising: a disc storage inwhich a plurality of discs are stored in an arranged condition; a disccarrier having a pair of driving rollers for carrying a disc insertedfrom an insertion opening to the disc storage, the pair of drivingrollers being separated into both sides of the insertion opening; andmoving means for moving each of the pair of the driving rollers betweena disc carrying position where the driving rollers contact a lowersurface of the disc, and a retracted position apart from the disc;wherein the disc storage has a plurality of trays arranged in a discarranging direction, and is provided to be moved in the disc arrangingdirection, and further comprises a tray moving means for moving thetrays in the disc arranging direction, the tray moving means is providedfor positioning a desired disc at a height approximately equal to theheight of the driving rollers, and wherein the trays have a discsupporting plate, a pair of notches are formed in the disc supportingplate, the driving rollers are provided to be inserted in the notches atthe disc carrying position.
 2. The disc changer according to claim 1wherein the driving rollers at the disc carrying position are providedto be engaged with discs in the disc storage.
 3. The disc changeraccording to claim 1 wherein the driving rollers are provided to beparallel with the opening when positioned at the disc carrying position,and to be unparallel at the retracted position.
 4. The disc changeraccording to claim 1 wherein each of the driving rollers is pivotallymounted on a supporting plate at a position adjacent the opening.
 5. Thedisc changer according to claim 1 further comprising means forseparating adjacent trays from a desired tray.
 6. The disc changeraccording to claim 1 wherein the driving rollers are provided forcarrying a disc inserted from the opening to the disc storage whenpositioned at the disc carrying position, and provided to be positionedat the retracted position after the disc is stored in the storage.
 7. Adisc changer comprising: a disc storage in which a disc is stored; adisc carrier having a pair of driving rollers for carrying the discinserted from an opening to the disc storage, the pair of drivingrollers being disposed apart from each other on opposite lateral sidesof the opening; moving means for moving each of the driving rollersbetween a disc carrying position and a retracted position apart from thedisc; wherein a rotational axis of each of the driving rollers in thedisc carrying position is parallel to each other, and the rotationalaxis of each of the driving rollers in the retracted position isunparallel to each other.
 8. The disc changer according to claim 7wherein each of the driving rollers is pivotally mounted on a supportingplate at a position adjacent the opening.
 9. A disc changer comprising:a disc storage in which a plurality of discs are stored in an arrangedcondition; a disc carrier having a pair of driving rollers for carryingthe disc inserted from an insertion opening to the disc storage, thepair of driving rollers being separated into both sides of the insertionopening, and moving means for moving each of the pair of the drivingrollers between a disc carrying position where the driving rollerscontact only one side of the disc, and a retracted position apart fromthe disc.